Built along a nature trail in the northeastern French town of Muttersholz, this study using renewable construction materials serves as a rest stop and information booth for visitors. However, its novel use of densely-packed straw could easily serve as an inspiration for future designs for private dwellings. Envisioned by Paris-based firm Studio 1984, the home concept revolves around a rectangular inner volume with walls made up common farm straw. An elaborate wood-plank frame keeps the straw in place on the outside, while wooden boards lining the interior give the building a sense of completion and polish. The result is a completely livable, open house made from materials that are completely renewable. Though the concept not yet been translated to a full residence, it serves as an inspiration and a template for future eco-homes in the same style.
While seemingly rough-cut on the outside, the interior of the home offers a clean, minimal, and airy environment typical of modern design. Most of the front surface of the study is covered in glass, with a doorway set into the facade.
The rectangular straw wall structure of the house is held together by a well-engineered system of wood supports that form a rough pentagon and give the overall building a traditional peaked roof.
The roof juts out over each edge of the building to avoid erosion of the land immediately around it and to provide shelter from the elements for anybody walking up the front steps. Water from rain pools far enough away to keep the home’s supports safe.
The inside of the study is finished in two attractive wood tones, providing a more conventional surface for living spaces than the unfinished straw packed around it. This particular building has been turned into a rest pavilion along a nature trail, so its only furniture is an informational countertop and some seating.
While this particular construction hasn’t seen duty as a private home, its eco-friendly construction principles and novel material use could transfer to residential design without much trouble.
Studio 1984
